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Tapio Rinneaho
RIN00.jpg|2000: Debut in the Prost for the final 2 races RIN01.jpg|2001: First full season with Jaguar Tapio Rinneaho is a Finnish racing driver currently competing for Falcon Motorsport in the Formula FG Championship and for Minardi in Formula One. Formula FG Career Season 1 Rinneaho joined Jaguar-DTK Racing for the inaugural Formula FG Championship season. He was partnered by Jack Hunsley. The season got off to a rocky start as Rinneaho was forced to retire three times in the first four races. Following a decent fifth place in Spain Rinneaho was looking very strong in the Austrian Grand Prix. Leading for a moment before his first pit stop, Rinneaho was in contention to win the race but his race was ruined after colliding with Pablo Diehl's loose wheel following Diehl's collision with Joel Rautavaara. Nevertheless he was able to clock the fastest lap of the race. Next race of the season was held on the legendary street circuit at Monaco. Rinneaho was once again able to drive the fastest lap of the race but this time his perfect race was capped with a victory - first of his career. From then on Rinneaho went on to finish the next nine races on points, including two wins at Belgium and Italy and a further four podiums. The streak helped him reach second place in the driver's championship standings ahead of the season finale. Teammate Hunsley though had already secured the championship, as had DTK the constructor's championship. Pablo Diehl was Rinneaho's closest rival in the standing. The difference was 13 points which meant that a third place finish would be enough to secure RInneaho the second place if Diehl won the last race. In the end Diehl went on to finish second in the Japanese GP and snatched the silver medal after Rinneaho crashed out from second place on lap eight. Season 2 Championship winning duo Rinneaho-Hunsley returned to DTK. Engine manufacturer Toyota had lost it's relative performance during the winter break which meant DTK wasn't expected to be as competitive as in season 1. Decent drives to sixth and ninth in the opening races provided good sponsor money for the team. Second place in the South African GP after a strong drive raised hopes that the season could still be a highly succesful one. The team took a risky approach to the car development, totally disregarding qualifying pace and concentrating on Sunday performance instead. The plan worked out great and by the sixth race of the season DTK was back to the winning ways when Hunsley took his first win of the season. Rinneaho retired. The United States Grand Prix wasn't the only one where Rinneaho failed to score points. From fourth to eight round his best finish was only 13th which meant he was practically out of the title battle. Second half of the season though proved to be much more competitive one once again. Four points finishes from the next five races paved the way for a return to podium in Belgium. Rinneaho added another podium finish following a solid drive to second Italy which meant he was back within striking distance in the battle for third in the championship. Leading N-Tech duo Cocks-Böhner was too far ahead by this time. Two more podiums and another two points finishes saw Rinneaho end the season 5th in the drivers' standings and DTK 2nd in the constructors'. Season 3 It was announced during the Hungarian GP of Season 2 that Rinneaho would leave DTK and join Falcon Motorsport in season 3. The season got off to a great start as Rinneaho won the season opener in Australia despite Falcon being rather underpowered to their competitors. After the victorious Australian GP Falcon took a step bacwards despite achieving a shock pole position in the third race of the season in South Africa. By round six Rinneaho had only got two more points since his Melbourn victory, largely because of Falcon's poor reliability which had also hampered chassis development. When the series landed in Europe for the European and French GPs, Rinneaho looked like he had found some speed. Third-place finishes in the 6th and 7th races of the season raised Rinneaho up the championship standings while teammate Rob Sharp was yet to score a single points. Unfortunately, the third place in Dijon would be Rinneaho's last podium finish of the season. Poor reliability and lack of speed were the themes for the second half of the season - seventh place in the Dutch GP being his best result in the last 10 races. Thanks to the early season form Rinneaho was able to finish the season 10th in the standings. Season 4 Despite having a disappointing season 3, Rinneaho re-signed with Falcon at the start of the season. The season started well as Rinneaho won the Malaysian and Turkish grand prix and lead the championship after three rounds. Next three rounds in North America were difficult and Rinneaho could only manage a solitary points finish with fourth in Canada. Return to Europe put Rinneaho back on track. Victories in Great Britain and Germany cemented Rinneaho's championship lead over his rivals, mainly fellow Finn Joel Rautavaara. Three podium finishes in the following four races meant that Rinneaho was still leading the championship ahead of the last two rounds in Japan and Brazil. However, with main rival Rautavaara scoring three wins and a second place finish in the same span of races, Rinneaho's lead was cut to only six points. The penultimate round of the champioship, the Pacific Grand Prix, was held in Adelaide, Australia. With only six points separating the two Finns battling for the championship, a win for either of them would guarantee the winner to lead the standings into the season finale. Rautavaara's weekend in Adelaide started marvellously as the ART driver topped the time sheets in both practice sessions, capping the performance with his third pole position in a row. Meanwhile Rinneaho qualified in third. Race day was rainy which meant the drivers qould be in for a difficult afternoon in very wet conditions. Rautavaara got off to a great start and held his lead while Rinneaho was stuck third battling for second with another championship hopeful, teammate Pablo Diehl. On lap 8 of 60 it would all go wrong for Rinneaho as the two Falcon drivers made contact flipping the Finn upside down on the track. He recovered but his day ended ultimately on lap 12 when a lockup caused him to crash. Rautavaara would go on to win the race meaning that his championship lead over Rinneaho was now 19 points before the last round. Only a win would suffice for Rinneaho whereas Rautavaara wasn't allowed to finish higher than seventh should Rinneaho be crowned the champion. In the season finale held in Interlagos, Rinneaho responded to the pressure put on him with his fourth pole of the season beating Rautavaara only by 0,029 seconds. Rinneaho had won all three of his previous races he had started from pole which raised the hopes of the Falcon camp ahead of the race. Unfortunately for Rinneaho however he was only able to finish the race in second after teammate Diehl secured third place in the championship with his third win of the season. At the end of the day possible team orders for Falcon wouldn't have changed anything since Rautavaara seemed to be taking it safe most of the day, bringing his ART to the finish line in third clinching him the season 4 championship. Despite losing the title by only 16 points, season 4 was Rinneaho's most succesful to date. With 3 wins, 4 pole positions, 2 fastest laps and 218 points scored he helped Falcon win the constructors' title - second time in Rinneaho's career. Racing record Complete Formula 1 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Grand Prix wins Complete Formula FG results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Complete GPTCC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Rinneaho, Tapio Rinneaho, Tapio Rinneaho, Tapio